Man accused of killing five neighbours in Texas arrested after manhunt for days
Francisco Oropesa
Theman accused of fatally shooting five neighbours ina Texas home has been taken into custody after dayslong manhunt, the police said in a statement, on Tuesday (May 2). This comes after nearly four days offalse alarms and few apparent leads. The 38-year-old suspect,Francisco Oropesa, was taken into custody around 7:00 pm (local time), said the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon told NBC news, Oropesawasapprehended in Cut and Shoot, Texas which is a few kilometres away fromCleveland, Texas, where the killings took place. The shooting took place afterneighbours hadasked Oropesa to stop firing his rifle on Friday night, when he stepped out of his house and shot rounds with an AR-15-style rifle, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said on Saturday.
Initially,authoritieswere waiting for thefingerprints to confirm the person arrested is Oropesa. The suspect has now beentaken to the Montgomery County Jail and is charged with first-degree murder said the district attorney.This comes aftermore than 250 law enforcement officials and a total of $80,000 in rewards, wereinvolved in Oropesa’s manhunt, who had eluded Texas authorities after the shooting on Friday.
Law enforcement had beenusingthe suspect'scellphoneto track him but said that the trail went coldSaturday evening. A statement by theMontgomery County Sheriff's Officealso said that apress conferencewill be held bySan Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers and the FBI-Houston to give more details about Oropesa's arrest.
The arrest also comes days after more details were revealed aboutOropesa who wasfirst removed by an immigration judge back in 2009.However, the suspect’s current immigration status remains unclear and it is also not known how long he was in the US since last deported.
In a statement, on Monday, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),said that it identified the suspect as a Mexican and confirmed that he was apprehended and deported several times.Oropesa was also convicted of driving while intoxicated in January 2012 in Montgomery County, Texas and sentenced to jail, the department added.
Thegunman shotWilson Garcia, the father of the one-month-old's wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman,before killing three other adults - Diana Velazquez Alvarado (21), Julisa Molina Rivera (31), Jose Jonathan Casarez (18) - and Garcia’s son, Daniel Enrique Laso-Guzman (8).
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.